Behavioral science can aid household participation in gas savings

Abstract

Sebastian Berger is assistant professor of sustainable development at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research focuses on behavioral scientific support of climate policies as well as environmental psychology. He received his PhD in economic and social psychology from the University of Cologne. He is associate editor at the Journal of Environmental Psychology. Axel Ockenfels is professor of economics at the University of Cologne, director of the Cologne Laboratory for Economic Research, and speaker of the Excellence Center for Social and Economic Behavior. He combines tools from market design and behavioral sciences to provide solutions in electricity, climate, finance, transport, telecommunication, internet, and other sectors. Ockenfels serves on the advisory board at the -Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; is an editor of Management Science; and is a member of the Leopoldina, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and several other academies of science. His research was awarded with the highest German and European research distinctions. Georg Zachmann is a senior fellow at Bruegel—an independent economics think tank in Brussels—where he has worked since 2009 on energy and climate policy. His work focuses on regional and distributional impacts of decarbonization; the analysis and design of carbon, gas, and electricity markets; and EU energy and climate policies. Previously, he worked at the German Ministry of Finance, the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, the energy think tank LARSEN in Paris, and the policy consultancy Berlin Economics. Sebastian Berger is assistant professor of sustainable development at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research focuses on behavioral scientific support of climate policies as well as environmental psychology. He received his PhD in economic and social psychology from the University of Cologne. He is associate editor at the Journal of Environmental Psychology. Axel Ockenfels is professor of economics at the University of Cologne, director of the Cologne Laboratory for Economic Research, and speaker of the Excellence Center for Social and Economic Behavior. He combines tools from market design and behavioral sciences to provide solutions in electricity, climate, finance, transport, telecommunication, internet, and other sectors. Ockenfels serves on the advisory board at the -Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; is an editor of Management Science; and is a member of the Leopoldina, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and several other academies of science. His research was awarded with the highest German and European research distinctions. Georg Zachmann is a senior fellow at Bruegel—an independent economics think tank in Brussels—where he has worked since 2009 on energy and climate policy. His work focuses on regional and distributional impacts of decarbonization; the analysis and design of carbon, gas, and electricity markets; and EU energy and climate policies. Previously, he worked at the German Ministry of Finance, the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, the energy think tank LARSEN in Paris, and the policy consultancy Berlin Economics. Germany, for example, has almost 800 gas distribution system operators. The EU has almost 2,500, which are sufficiently heterogeneous in terms of consumer structure (rural/urban, rich/poor, etc.) and for which regulators already possess relatively detailed and consistent data from incentive-regulation exercises.